Ashdod, the Southern Shore

Pirhiya Nahshoni

22/11/2009

Preliminary Report

During December 2006–January 2007, a trial excavation was conducted along the southern shore of Ashdod (Permit No. A-4989; map ref. NIG 163675–850/630830–60; OIG 113675–850/130830–60), prior to the construction of a pumping facility. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Ashdod Development Company, was directed by P. Nahshoni, with the assistance of S. Talis (area supervision and data computation), H. Lavi and Y. Lender (administration), V. Essman and V. Pirsky (surveying), the Sky View Company (aerial photography), A. Ganor (pottery restoration), C. Amit (studio photography) and laborers from Qiryat Gat and Ashqelon.

The site (c. 4 dunams; Fig. 1) is situated along the beach, on a low kurkar hill, c. 1 km south of the Assyrian compound in Ashdod-Yam. Previous excavations at the site ascertained that it dated to the Late Bronze Age (ESI 15:131). Installations for the production of wine were exposed in Area A and to their northeast was a complex of rooms and courtyards built of mud bricks (Area B; HA-ESI 113:107*–108*). Two areas were opened in the current excavation, north of Area A (C—four squares; D—three and one-half squares); building remains and installations, ascribed to the second half of the thirteenth century BCE, were discovered. Another area that was excavated south of Area A (E—one-half square) was devoid of in situ remains.

Area C was opened in the southwestern part of the site, where the surface slopes southward and westward. Remains of three building phases were exposed. An installation or structure, built of mud bricks and ascribed to the earliest phase, was negated in the second building phase. All that remained of it were mud bricks and a section of an earthen floor, overlain with vessels, which could be discerned on the lower part of the slope.

The kurkar bedrock that protruded in the eastern part of the area was leveled to a depth of c. 0.7 m in the second phase and the structure/installation that existed in the southern and western part of the area was leveled. These measures prepared the surface for the construction of a large mud-brick building (5 × 6 m; Fig. 2) that survived by four rooms. One room was almost entirely preserved (Room 50; inner dimensions: 2.2 × 3.2 m) and sections of three other rooms remained to its west and south (Rooms 51–53). The walls of the building, preserved two to five courses high (0.18–0.42 m), were built of reddish and dark gray mud bricks. Most of the walls consisted of a single row of mud bricks that were arranged widthwise (width c. 0.6 m); one of the walls was built of two rows of mud bricks. Dark gray mortar was used both as bonding material and as plaster. Earthen floors abutted the base of the walls. The finds recovered from the building, which continued in use until the site was abandoned, included locally produced vessels and imported ware, including a Cypriot pithos (Fig. 3).

Two installations, also attributed to the second phase, were discovered north of the building. The southern installation was trapezoidal (0.4–1.0 × 1.0 m, depth 0.6 m) and built of mud bricks and plaster. The northern was an elliptical installation (preserved length 0.5 m, width 0.7 m, depth 0.2 m; its northern part was not preserved), hewn in kurkar bedrock and coated with hydraulic plaster. This installation, which may have been used as a winepress, was negated prior to the abandonment of the site and a tamped earth floor, ascribed to the third construction phase, was placed atop it.

The finds recovered from the three construction phases were identical in date and attest to the architectural changes in this area, which occurred over a short period of time at the end of the thirteenth century BCE.

Area D was opened c. 50 m east of Area C, where the surface slopes to the south. After the removal of a sand layer by mechanical equipment, meager remains of a mud-brick building (2.0 × 2.3 m), which comprised two partly preserved walls and rooms, were discovered. The building was founded on top of an open occupation level, an exposed section of which was overlain with ash and potsherds. The use of this occupation level, which was set on the kurkar bedrock, continued almost uninterrupted after it was incorporated within the building. It therefore seems that the distinction between the two building phases is only technical and the ceramic finds indicate that the phases existed for a short period of time at the end of the thirteenth century BCE.

Kurkar-hewn pits (diam. 1.0–1.4 m, depth 0.5–0.8 m) were found further down the slope, toward the south. They contained pottery vessels, including imported wares, as well as stone objects, which all dated to the end of the thirteenth century BCE.

Area E was opened c. 50 m south of Areas C and D, where the surface was two meters lower. Horizontal fill layers of alternating sand, potsherds and kurkar, which contained mixed finds with modern debris, were found.

The ceramic finds from Areas C and D, which included imported vessels from Cyprus, Egypt and Mycenae, as well as the large quantity of organic material that survived on the floors, indicate that intensive activity was conducted at the site. It seems that the short-lived settlement subsisted on processing agricultural produce and benefited from extensive commercial ties.